Lessons from Another Dimension
by HolyOrdersOtaku
Summary: An unknown stallion, dubbed Bass Chord by Princess Luna, awakens in the world of Equestria dazed and confused as to how he got there. Stranger even is the fact that he is unfamiliar what he refers too as his "new body", claiming that he wasn't always a pony. Rated T for language and suggestive content.
1. Prologue: Arrival

The sound of tea being quietly sipped echoed sweetly throughout the throne room of Canterlot Castle. The night court ended some time ago, and Princess Luna was relaxing after a hard night's work, waiting for six o'clock to roll around so her elder sister would awaken and raise the sun. She glanced outside through a window and marveled at her own handiwork in the night sky, and even began plotting in her mind what sort of constellations she would design tomorrow night.

And thus, the princess of the night felt content, thinking that not a thing in the whole world could spoil this night. Once the day came and she was in bed she didn't really care what happened at that point; she would be in bed, after all, and that would be Celestia's responsibility. Not to say she didn't _truly_ care at all, but if nothing was too bad she could stay in bed.

But, as she stared out of the window into the sky, she saw a bright light explode from the maze in the royal gardens. She gave it a curious look, thinking it may have been Discord playing around. "Oh goodness," she said. "Why won't he just stay asleep at this hour? He better not be causing any trouble."

"And, pray tell, who are you talking about, little Lulu?" Discord said as he flashed into being behind her. It didn't faze her; she had grown accustomed to his antics. She did, however, not like when he used her nickname.

She sighed, putting her nickname out of her thoughts. "What are you up to now, Discord?"

"Oh, just investigating that bright light in the maze. I thought it might have been you goofing off, so I came here to check in and see if you were still in the throne room."

"I'll have you know _don't_ goof off," she retorted.

"Really? Then what about that whole Nightmare Night fiasco in Ponyville last year? I'd call that goofing off," Discord smiled his trickster smile as he spoke.

Luna was about to give him another retort when another statement he made stuck in her mind. "Wait. You said that _you_ were investigating that flash, and you thought it was _me_? It wasn't you?"

Discord shrugged. "I'm asking you, aren't I?"

Luna stared out the window again in thought. She looked at the clock; it was ten till five in the morning. "Go wake Celestia and tell her to meet me in the maze. I'm going to go check it out myself."

"Why should I wake up Little Miss Sunshine from her sleep?" Discord asked.

"Because I asked you to, that's why."

Discord smiled. "Only for you, Lulu." He snapped his fingers and he was gone in a flash.

Luna smiled. "That'll teach him to never tease me. No pony wakes Celestia an hour early and gets away with it." She beamed proudly at her own actions and left promptly, flying out the doors and into the gardens. It was at times like this where she was grateful to have wings, being an Alicorn and all that. Walking through this maze would be a real pain in the flank to navigate, and she was certain that the flash had originated from the center.

It didn't take her long to arrive at her destination, and when she arrived she wasn't entirely sure and what to make of any of what she saw. It looked as though an explosion had occurred. Some of the dirt and grass on the ground had turned into glass from being super heated, and what wasn't glassed was burnt black and smoking. In the center of this mayhem was a single male pony, lying unconscious. "Oh, no!" Luna cried as she ran over to check on the stallion. His coat, strangely enough, wasn't burnt or damaged, and it still held its color of light blue. His mane was a deep purple, and on his flank was a musical instrument; a bass guitar. Luna didn't recognize him. At first she thought it was one of the night grounds keepers who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she had never seen this stallion before.

A flash of light caught her attention and she Discord materialize. "Sheesh! It's only five in the morning! It's not that different from six! That's the last time I wake _her_ up in an emergency!" He paused. "This _is_ an emergency, right?"

"It would appear so," Luna replied, motioning with her head at the out cold stallion. "I don't know who he is. I've never seen him before."

"Hmm," Discord said quietly to himself.

The sound of wings flapping came to their ears, and they both looked up to see Celestia gently flying down to meet them. "What's wrong, Luna?" Celestia asked, concerned.

"Why do you seem so nice _now_, Celestia? You were a murderous demon when I woke you," Discord teased.

"Yes, I'd imagine that's why Luna sent _you_ to wake me, Discord. She knows how I get when I haven't my _full night's rest_," she turned to face Luna and caught sight of the stallion. "Oh my!" she said, shocked. "Is he okay?"

Luna shook her head. "I haven't a clue. I haven't touched him, in case he may be severely injured, but from the looks of it he may be okay."

"Discord, teleport us to the castle's infirmary."

Discord shrugged. "Yes, your brightness!" He snapped his fingers and they were no longer outside, but in the clean, white room of the infirmary. The night staff, preparing to change shifts to the day staff, were all shocked.

"Don't be alarmed," Luna said. "We found this stallion. Is he okay?"

A nurse walked over and inspected him. "He seems to be okay, say for the fact the he's unconscious."

"That's good to hear," Celestia said. "But I want to know who he is, and why he's unconscious in my gardens."

Luna gasped. "He's waking up! He might be able to tell us."

They looked over at the stallion, whose eyes were slowly opening. His eyes were of a darker shade of purple than his mane, and they held a sense of grogginess to them. He looked around for a moment awkwardly, assessing his surroundings. "I'm…surrounded by horses. In a doctor's office no less."

Celestia looked at Luna confused and turned back to the stallion. "Are yo-"

"Holy shit!" the stallion yelled as he jumped to his feet in shock. "It talked! It talked!"

"What do you mean by calling my sister 'it'?" Luna demanded.

Then the stallion calmed down. "Oh, right! This must be a dream! Right. Talking horses don't exist. What was I thinking." Discord laughed. The stallion looked over at him, shocked at first, then back to his calmness. "And I don't even know what the hell you are. Some kind of demon?"

Discord laughed harder. "No, but good guess. I'm a draconoquis."

The stallion shrugged. "Eh, tomato-tamahto."

Celestion cleared her throat. "I'm afraid that this is no dream, my good stallion. This is real. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Stallion?" he asked. Luna nodded and asked the nurse to bring him a mirror. She returned and the stallion got a good look at himself. His eyes went wide, but then he calmed down. "Now, if this wasn't a dream, I'd feel pain, right? So, do something that would _usually_ hurt a lot. Go ahead!"

Luna shrugged. "Sister, I don't think he'll accept his situation until we actually hurt him."

Celestia sighed. "Just don't accidentally kill him." She turned to Discord. "Earmuffs." She said. Discord nodded, and snapped his fingers. Earmuffs appeared on everypony's head except for the stallions and Luna's. "Go ahead."

Luna nodded.

"I don't get it? That was cool and all, but you just really confirmed that I'm in a dream. Stuff appearing out of thin air just doesn't happen," the Stallion said.

"Forgive me, but…**_YOU ARE NOT DREAMING YOU IMBECILE!_**" Luna cried out in the Royal Canterlot Voice.

The stallion flew backwards and hit the wall, his face a comical scene of pain and confusion. "Ouch! My eardrums!" he exclaimed. "That hurt. That means I'm awake! This is real!"

He looked at Celestia, Luna, and Discord in a panicked frenzy. "Where the hell am I? What's going on!"

"Calm down, sir. You don't need to have a panic attack," Luna said.

"Okay, okay. The stallion whispered to himself. Maybe it's like _Planet of the Apes_. Maybe this is some odd future. What year is it?"

"1003 AN, just after Hearts and Hooves day," Celestia said.

"AN? What's that stand for?"

"After Nightmare. The calendar system was adopted when Nightmare Moon was defeated one thousand and three years ago."

"That tells me nothing. What about where I am, what's it called?" he asked.

"Canterlot Castle."

"No, not that specific. This general place. World, planet, whatever you call it."

"Equestria," Luna said.

"Was it ever called Earth?"

The three looked at each other, and Discord smiled. "I haven't heard that name in quite a while."

"I've never heard of Earth as a world," Luna replied.

"I have, but it shouldn't be connected to this world. All portals to other worlds were sealed after we defeated Discord," Celestia stated.

"That's because I'm the reason the portals existed," Discord said happily. "Ah, those were the days."

"Wait a minute! Wait just a damn minute! You mean this _isn't_ a future version of my world? I may be in the same time frame, but on a different world altogether?" the stallion asked.

Discord nodded, excited. "Looks that way!"

"Oh, mother of God," the stallion said before he fainted.

They stared at him as he slept. The nurse shrugged. "He's healthy physically. He doesn't have to stay here, your highness."

"Put him in a spare room, Luna," Celestia said.

"The only one we have unoccupied is Twilight's old room," Luna stated.

"That'll do for now." She started to walk away, and then she stopped. "We never caught his name, did we?"

The three stared at him. "I vote on calling him Bass Chord on account of his cutie mark," Luna said.

Celestia nodded in agreement. "A good temporary name until we know his real one. Take Bass to Twilight's old room. I don't see that being a problem."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

So, this is a thing...a really old thing. I originally uploaded it to fimfiction, but it constantly gets buried there, so I figured I'd post it here as well. Prologue included, I've written roughly 15-16 chapters, and most of them are already up over there. If you don't want to wait for me to upload them here, you can look me up on fimfiction by the name of HolyOrdersOtaku (like I would use any other name.) I will plan on uploading a chapter of this here every week until it's caught up with the fimfiction account, and then I will update both as often as I can (which is usually when I finish a chapter, which is why my RWBY fanfics have been updated so much; I write a chapter and I upload it.)

Really, this is just me trying to broaden my audience. *shrug* Can you blame me? This story originates, like all of my fanfictions, from boredom.

Till next time! :D


	2. Chapter 1: The Twilight Zone

_My whole life spins into a frenzy, and I'm stepping into the Twilight Zone…where am I to go now that I've gone too far…Can't get through. Where are you?_

* * *

Twilight Sparkle hummed happily to herself as she stepped onto the platform at the Canterlot train station. Normally she would have written a letter in advance to tell the princesses that she would be visiting, but she decided to surprise them. In her saddlebags were some left over friendship chocolates that her friends had given her for Hearts and Hooves Day. Since the theme for these particular chocolates was friends rather than romantic relations, she decided that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna could use some.

She began to walk, and a purple and green baby dragon followed closely; Spike. "Um, Twilight?" he said.

"What is it Spike?" she asked.

"What if they're really busy today? I mean, I know your Celestia's student and all, but surely they can't just make time for you anytime you drop in unannounced."

"Spike, that's the point on being unannounced; to surprise them. If they are too busy to actually see me, I can still leave the chocolates in their rooms. I mean, I would like to talk to them for a bit, but I completely understand if they can't. I'm just here to give them the gifts."

"Isn't a two hour train ride a little long just to drop of some chocolate and go home?"

"Oh, we're not going home today, Spike."

This was news to him. "We aren't?"

"Nope. I thought we could take today as a holiday, stay at the castle, and go home tomorrow afternoon," Twilight said with a smile.

Spike shrugged. "Well, whatever works I suppose. I'm not complaining."

Twilight nodded and they continued to walk through Canterlot, slowly making their way to the castle. When they arrived, the guards let them pass, and Twilight entered the entrance hall with a sense of familiarity. She looked around and found who she was looking for; Butler Hoof.

He approached Twilight and gave a quick, curt bow. "Hello again, Ms. Sparkle. How may I assist you today?"

Twilight laughed. "Butler, how many times have I told you to call me Twilight. I don't like be spoken to in formalities."

"My apologies, Ms. Sparkle. Old habits, as they say, die hard."

She nodded. "Well, I'd like you to have these delivered to the princesses' chambers if you could," she used her levitation magic to retrieve two boxes from her saddle bags; one had a sun, and the other had a moon, which were the respective princesses cutie marks. "Their gifts that I wanted to surprise them with."

Butler nodded. "Of course," he stomped a single hoof, and two maids came to him immediately. "Have these delivered to the princesses' chambers, if you would my dears. And be sure they go to the appropriate princess. I'd hate for Princess Luna to get Princess Celestia's gift, or vice versa." The two nodded, and went to complete the given tasks. "Anything else, Ms. Sparkle? I'm afraid Princess Luna has already retired for the day, and Princess Celestia is quite busy today; I don't know if she can make time for you, though I will not be so ignorant as to tell you she will or will not see you for certain."

"That's okay, Butler. I rather expected that, so I'm staying the night in my old room, if that's okay."

Butler nodded again. "Very well. It's been kept exactly as you left it. Would you like me to escort you?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, I'm good. I'm sure you're a busy pony, and I know the way to my room. It's great seeing you again, though."

"But of course. I'll send somepony to fetch you when lunch is ready. Today's meal will be glazed carrots, sweet potatoes, and fresh fruit salad with a bowl of spinach on the side."

"Sounds wonderful. I'll be sure not to miss it. See you later." She waved her hoof as she exited to room, Spike following close behind.

Spike stopped and yelled back, "Hey, Butler. Make sure there are a few gems on the menu for me, okay?"

"Of course, sir. I shall have some sapphires ready for you," Butler replied. He turned and went about his business.

"Oh, sapphires? That'll be really good!" Spike stated excitedly.

"It does feel nice being back. I love Ponyville well enough, but Canterlot is still home to me," Twilight said with fondness in her voice. They walked through the castle for about ten minutes, purposely taking the long way to her room. They arrived at the door and Twilight stopped. "We haven't been back in here since I moved to Ponyville, have I?"

"No, I guess not. That's been three years now. Almost four, actually. And Butler said they left it as it was when we left," Spike replied.

"Well, no more delay! Let's go in, Spike!"

"No need to make it dramatic, Twilight. It's just your bedroom/astronomy tower/library/laboratory."

She pouted for a moment. "Let me have my moment, Spike." She finally cracked a smile, however, and giggled. "Alright, let's go." She opened the door and they stepped inside. She dropped her saddle bags and told Spike to head up the stairs and put them next to her bed.

He carried to bags up the stairs as instructed…and immediately came running back down screaming. "Twilight! There's someone in your bed!"

"What are you talking about, Spike?" she asked with a look of skepticism. "Butler didn't say anything about someone else here. Are you trying to pull a prank over me?"

"No!" he denied. "I'm serious! There is a stallion in your bed!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Butler would have told us if Princess Celestia was letting someone else stay in _my_ room, Spike." She walked up the stairs. "See, there's…a…stallion? There's a stallion. In my bed." The look on her face was total confusion.

* * *

Princess Celestia was holding day court. It had only just started a few minutes ago, a little after ten in the morning. She was about to get things underway when Butler Hoof, one of her oldest and most loyal castle staff members entered. "Pardon the intrusion, Your Highness. I just thought I should tell you of an unexpected, but pleasant, guest."

She arched an eyebrow. "Who might that be, Butler?" she asked, curious.

"Twilight Sparkle, Your Highness. She expected you'd be too busy to see her anytime soon, so she went to her old room to rest from her trip here."

Celestia smiled, eager to be done with the day's work now so she could see Twilight. "Well, tell her that I'll see her as soon as…" she paused, remembering a very _crucial_ detail. "Wait, did you say she went to _her old room_?"

"Yes, Princess. Is that a problem?" Butler asked.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" The sound of Twilight's voice echoed throughout the room, the castle, the city, and even the entire world of Equestria. Frankly, Celestia wouldn't be surprised if Twilight accidentally woke a few slumbering dragons on the other side of the globe.

"Yes," she finally said, trying to keep her composure. "As it just so happens, that _is_ a problem. One that I must fix myself."

* * *

"Twilight, calm down! Remember to breath!" Spike said, trying to keep Twilight from going insane like she had been known to do on occasion…but only on occasion.

Twilight tried her hardest to do as Spike said, but it didn't change the fact that there was an USI (Unidentified-Sleeping-Individual) in _her_ bed. "Okay," she said to herself. "Keep calm, Twilight. He's just sleeping. He's not stealing, breaking, killing, or harassing anything or anypony, so it's not _all_ bad." She stepped forward to get a closer look at him. His coat was a light blue, and his mane was a deep purple. His cutie mark depicted a dark blue four string bass guitar, which told her that he was a musician. "At least his cutie mark isn't a bloody dagger, or a black mask or something sinister like that," she whispered to herself to where not even Spike could hear.

Spike approached slowly behind her. He whispered, "I'm amazed your scream didn't wake him. My ears are still ringing."

"Sorry about that," Twilight whispered back. "Who _is_ he?"

"Bass Chord," said an angelic, gentle, mother like voice. Twilight turned to see Princess Celestia. "At least that's what Luna called him. We actually don't know his name."

"Wha-" Twilight started.

But Celestia cut her off. "I'm afraid I can't answer any questions you may have about him. He appeared in the maze last night. He woke very briefly this morning, discovered his situation, and promptly fainted. He hasn't opened his eyes since. He's been out cold for several hours. I put him here because we had nowhere else to put him."

Twilight laughed nervously. "Why not the hospital? Canterlot General isn't that far away," she said.

"True, but his origins are strange. I found my curiosity took the best of me, and I neglected that particular option. I'd rather like to find out who he is and where he's from."

"What do you mean?"

Celestia stepped closer to the bed. "Based on what little information I was able to get through deduction, for he never plainly spoke anything in his confusion, he may not be from this world."

Twilight's jaw dropped. "An alien? But he looks like a pony!"

"Nnngh!" muttered Bass. His eyes slowly opened. He looked around slowly, studying his surroundings. "Damn it!" He yelled. "This really _isn't_ a dream! This day is turning out better and better by the second!"

Twilight stepped back, surprised by his attitude to his situation.

"Nice to see that you're awake, Bass," Celestia said.

"Bass?" he asked. "As in the guitar?"

"Well, my sister called you that based on your cutie mark."

He stared at Celestia with pure confusion etched onto his face. "My what now?"

"It's the sort of tattoo looking object on your flanks," Twilight said, trying to sound calm.

"Uh huh…" he replied. He looked over at his own rear and saw the dark blue bass guitar. "What exactly is that doing there? I don't remember getting any tattoos."

"It's a mark that comes to every pony in Equestria. It marks their special talent for all to see, so that everyone maintains a constant sense of uniqueness."

He seemed rather calm considering his confusion. "Well, I guess it makes sense for mine to be a bass. I always did love playing mine. I'm still confused as to why I even have one, let alone the fact that I'm a freakin' pony."

"You said as much this morning when you first woke up. What are you _supposed_ to be, if not a pony?" Celestia asked.

He returned his gaze to her. "Human," he said plainly.

"Human? Never heard of that before. Have you, Princess?" Twilight asked.

She looked deep in thought. "It sounds familiar, but I can't place where I've heard it." She looked back at Bass. "Oh, I almost forgot. We only called you Bass because of your cutie mark, but we don't actually know your name. May I ask what it is?"

He looked around. "Before I answer," he said after a few minutes. "How did I get here? And I don't mean in this room. I have enough deductive reasoning to conclude that some poor sod carried me. I mean to this world. What did you call it?"

"Equestria," Celestia answered.

"Yeah, that. How did I get to Equestria?"

"My sister, Luna, would know better than I, which still isn't saying much considering how little we do know. Her account of the event was she saw a bright flash of light in our maze in the gardens. She went and found that it was burned and glassed as if it had been super heated, but you were at the center of the chaos unharmed for whatever reason. We were hoping you might know some more about it, really."

"I see. So, based on what little we know about my arrival, how much do we know about my departure?"

Celestia gave him a curious look. "I assume you mean a way home?" He nodded. "We don't know a thing. Knowing how you got here would most likely help, of course, but that still leaves us with nothing."

"Last thing; give me some examples of names here on your world."

"Well, the lovely young mare next to me is Twilight Sparkle. We have a butler named Butler Hoof."

Twilight nodded. "We also have ponies named Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, etcetera, etcetera. Why do you want to know?"

"You said you called me Bass, right?" he asked.

"Bass Chord, actually," Celestia answered.

"Then that's my name." he plainly said.

Twilight gave him a confused look. "Why can't we have your real name?"

He sighed. "Based on what little information any of us have on how or why I'm even here, it's clear that I'm going to be here for a while, and I don't know how long 'a while' actually is. So, while I'm here, I might as well learn how this world's society works and blend in until I can go home." He shook his head. "I honestly don't like it, but I guess having the conscience to look at both possibilities at once is helpful. Either I get to go home eventually, or I'm stuck here until I die."

"Either way, you're stuck here for a while. Is that what you're saying?" Celestia asked.

"Yup. So," he looked at the mare and the goddess like ruler. "What are your names? I know the tall, freaky haired one introduced the purple one here, but I like 'official' introductions." He cleared his throat. "I'm…what was it? Oh, right. I'm Bass Chord. In spite of my predicament, I'm pleased to meet the both of you…even though you are talking horses."

Twilight was about to point out how rude he was being, but she thought of his situation and the fact that he was, from his perspective, on an alien world. "Ahem. I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"And my name is Celestia, Princess of the sun, and co-ruler of Equestria," Celestia said.

"I assume the sister you mentioned earlier is the other ruler?" Bass asked. The two mares nodded. "Well, that's out of the way. What do I do know?"

Celestia met his gaze. "You said that, no matter what the outcome of your stay here, you'll need to understand how society here works, correct?" He nodded in return. She smiled. "Twilight, have you studied anything new lately?"

Twilight thought about it. "Aside from reviewing Sea Fare's _Complete Guide to Marine Biology_ and reading the new _Daring Do_, I haven't studied that much in the way of new material."

"Bass, would you have any qualms with telling us about _your_ world."

"What for?" he asked.

"You've proven that there are worlds besides our own by coming here, whether you intended to or otherwise. If you could teach Twilight about your world, and she in turn teach you about ours, then that will give you something to do while I have my best researchers looking into anything that may relate to your appearance on this world."

"But, Princess, I _am _your best researcher," Twilight protested.

"I know Twilight, but you'll have a lot on your hands explaining our world to Bass. I can't have you overworking yourself. Is that understood?" Celestia asked.

Twilight thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Yes, Your Highness."

"Good," she said. "While it is nice to see you again, I'd like you to return to Ponyville today to rest up. Begin your mutual lessons on the morrow."

Twilight nodded. Celestia bid them farewell, as well promised to pass greetings on to Luna, and left the room. "Oh, great!" Spike exclaimed. "I was actually kind of looking forward to staying for those sapphires."

"I'll get you some when we get back to the library, Spike. I'm sure Rarity will have some spare sapphires," Twilight said.

Bass stared at Spike curiously. "What? Is there something on my scales?" Spike asked.

"What the hell are you supposed to be? I can't figure it out," Bass stated.

Spike hmphed in response. "I'll have you know that I'm a ferocious, fire breathing dragon!"

Without missing a beat or cracking a smile, Bass replied swiftly with, "My cat Little Dude is more ferocious than you, and all he does is sleep on my couch for hours on end."

"Hey! That's mean!" Spike responded.

"Hey, chill out. I was just teasing. Is there no sense of humor on this world?" he asked Twilight.

"Spike's just sensitive about his appearance from time to time. He's still a baby dragon."

"I'm, like, fourteen-years-old, Twilight. Plus however old my egg was before you hatched me." He retorted.

"Yes, but your living years aren't counted until you hatch, and dragons age differently that other races," Twilight said in a matter of fact fashion.

Bass yawned and clumsily stood up, clearly not used to his body. "This is gonna take some getting used to," he said. "So, when are we leaving?"

Twilight smiled. "Right now." She was eager to learn from Bass, even if he was just a strange pony from her perspective. Whatever he had to teach would be interesting, though. She knew that for a fact.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

A few hours late, but oh well. Again, I have already written up to 15 or 16 chapters, so these are already done. Any gramatical errors are purely there due to my own laziness to fix them, and for that I am sorry. TT_TT On a side note, music is sort of an important theme in alot of my work (both original and fanfiction) so every chapter after the prologue is started with a few lines from some of my favorite songs. Some make sense, others are just kind of...there. I dunno. I'm kind of goofing off with this story with a few sparse, but surprising, serious moments. Very far and few in between, though. Till next week!


	3. Chapter 2: Lesson One Starts

_I'm sick of the same thing [same thing], some thing's wasted every day. I'm making some changes [changes], changing everything I know._

Twilight tried her hardest to hide her excitement. Nopony in all of Equestria could have tried anywhere near as hard as she was right now. If Rainbow Dash could even _think_ about trying this hard the Wonderbolts would recruit her in a heartbeat. Twilight tried so hard that she would have been given three medals, two trophies, and a promotion from great unicorn to Holy-Crap-Why-Aren't-We-Worshiping-This-Mare status if she were succeeding. She was not.

Bass, in turn, tried his hardest to ignore the awkward air that Twilight was unintentionally giving off as they rode the train towards Ponyville. Needless to say, he too was failing. Miserably so, actually. "Ahem," he cleared his throat. "Could you, you know, _not_ stare into my soul right now?"

"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to stare. I was just thinking about what Celestia said."

"Yeah, I heard. We were both there," he said somewhat coldly.

Twilight was put off by this statement (which was most likely his intent), but she held her tongue. Bass sighed.

"Yeah," he said. "I know, that was rude. I apologize. For all of my rudeness, actually. I'm usually much more polite and well mannered."

"Why should now be any different?" Twilight asked.

"Everything is just as it should be with you, but for me I'm in a completely different boat. I'm not even sure if this boat floats at the moment, or if I'm just blessed to be in _really_ shallow water."

Twilight smiled. "While I understand what you mean, that was quite poetic. You're using metaphor to refer to being on an alien world."

Bass looked at her with slight surprise. "I'm impressed. Most people I talk to don't know what the hell I'm saying because they don't understand my choice of words."

She blushed. "Well, I'm actually quite well read. I like to read virtually any book I can get my hands on."

"That explains it then," Bass said with a smile. "We're both bookworms."

Twilight clapped her hooves together in excitement. "Well, there's one thing we can talk about at least." Then a thought struck her. "Wait, aren't you a musician?"

"Not really. I just like to play bass guitar. I'm not professional. Never even considered going pro."

"But you're cutie mark says that it's your special talent. Surely you must be good at it."

Bass gave her a quick look, then stared out the window. "Lesson Number One: My world and your world are miles apart in social structure. This whole 'special talent' thing has _potential_ to get you somewhere in life back in my world. Just because someone is a fantastic painter doesn't mean they're going to become a billionaire from it. In fact, my world focuses more on practicality. It's advisable to find a career in something you like doing so it doesn't feel like a dead end job, but it should still be something productive that makes money so you can live properly." He looked back at her and was surprised to see a pad of paper and a pen floating nearby covered in a purple aura. The pen was writing down every word he said. He couldn't help but smile, as he found the sight somewhat humorous.

"Give me an example. What do you do for a living?" she asked.

"Well, I'm actually a university student, so I take whatever jobs I can get during the off time in the summer before going back to school in the fall. Last summer I worked in manufacturing, and this summer I was working a public government job."

"What kind of government job? Were you an office assistant or something?"

Bass laughed. "I like to read well enough, but I can only take so much non-fiction. I prefer reading stories. No, I worked for the street department of my town. My job was to keep the town clean and to repair the street, street signs, and street lights. Manual labor, of course, but it was alright."

Twilight jotted down all of what he just said. "You hinted that it was advisable to find a career in something you like to do. Why haven't you done that yet?"

"Actually, I technically have. I'm just not working it yet. That's the point of university. It isn't just a place for you to learn for fun, you know. You pick a major, study that field, and find a job in said field. Like me, for example. Even though my 'special talent' is playing the bass guitar, I'd be more likely to be hired if I was a teacher, so I'm studying to teach literature."

Twilight blushed. "Yeah, that's about like universities here. I honestly don't know what I expected to hear as an answer."

Bass shrugged. He looked to the seat beside Twilight. Sleeping soundly was the little dragon called Spike. "So, now it's my turn to ask a question. I'll keep them simple for now. Question one: what's his story?" He motioned towards Spike.

"Oh, him? He's my assistant. He's also kind of like a little brother, actually. It was my magic that made his egg hatch, and I've taken care of him ever since." Twilight beamed with pride.

"You caused him to hatch? Why didn't he hatch on his own?"

"From what little we know about dragons, because most of them don't live in pony populated areas, I'd wager that something has to happen to _make_ a dragon hatch. All dragons are born with an innate form of magic, so I assume that's how most of them are born under their own society. Spike's egg was found abandoned long before I was born."

Bass smiled. "I think it's an insult to call yourself his sister," he casually said, trying to sound rude.

And it worked. "Hey, now! You've only been here for a day! How dare you mock me and Spike!"

He laughed. "I did not finish my point, Ms. Sparkle." Twilight was taken aback by the formality of the statement. "I have an older sister. I understand one hundred percent how the relationship between big sister and little brother functions, and what it looks like. You may not realize it, but every action you take with Spike there, whether it's minute or major, gives off an aura of care and love that is far too great to be that of an elder sister. That's what I like to call motherhood."

"M-motherhood?!" She asked, shocked. "H-how could you even get that vibe? You've barely seen me act in any particular way with him?"

"There's a reason I chose to study literature, Twilight. Not only do I like to read, but I also _write_. It's to my benefit to understand and notice even the simplest of actions and mannerisms. Without that ability, I couldn't write any characters."

Twilight was lost for words. Bass continued, "For example; Let's say I was to write a romance novel. Let's call our hero Mark, and our heroine Lindsey. Mark and Lindsey love each other. Some things happen. The End. What's wrong with that statement?"

She placed a hoof on her chin to think. "There wasn't a story, nor was there any character to it. It was just a statement of fact about Mark and Lindsey."

"Exactly. Now, let's change it around a little bit," Bass cleared his throat. He began to speak in a dramatic voice. "_Mark stared intently into Lindsey's deep sea blue eyes. Within their dark pools he could see his own grass green eyes reflecting back at him, though darkened by her eye color. She stared right back at him, unsure of what to say. The events of the last week had scarred both of them, literally and figuratively, and moments ago she was uncertain that anything could work out between them ever again. But now, as she stared into Mark's caring eyes, she knew she was a fool to believe such a thing. 'I love you,' he said to her. 'I love you, too,' she replied. The pair embraced in an amazing, romantic kiss as the sun set. The End._"

Twilight stared blankly at him. "There is no way you came up with all of that on the spot," she said.

"As a matter of fact, I did. So, what did you infer from _that_?" he asked.

"Well," Twilight began. "They've been through many trials. Their bodies have been injured, and so have their hearts, but they still believe in each other enough to stick together. We know that they care deeply for one another. But I still don't get your point."

"Through minor descriptive terms, such as actions, colors, or moods, we can detect and understand different subliminal messages. Without knowing exactly what they've been through, we still know that they've gone through a lot. That is the way I see the relationship between you and that dragon of yours. Minor actions speak volumes, Twilight."

Twilight quickly wrote down everything that he had just finished saying, and read back over it several times to try to remember it. "I think I'm going to enjoy this far more than I should, Bass. I can't wait to introduce you to my friends."

"Your what now?" Bass said, somewhat surprised.

"Surely you don't think I can't make friends?" she asked, teasing.

"Oh, hell!" Bass exclaimed. "More people I have to explain my situation too. I'd rather _not_ advertise that I don't know a thing about this world."

Twilight winced. She took another note, mentioning Bass's excessive usage of profanity as a potential public problem. "Well, I'm sure they won't mind. Except, Pinkie Pie will want to throw you a massive 'Welcome to Equestria' party, I'm sure."

"Oh sweet salty Christ no," he said swiftly.

"Sweet salty what now?"

"Uh, nothing," he replied. An idea came to him then. "Twilight, how good of an actress are you?"

"I'm not bad. I was in the Hearth Warming Eve play in Canterlot for the third year in a row. I often get told how well I play my role. Why do you ask?"

"Among my many talents, I'm not a terrible actor. I mean, I'm not great, but I could be a lot worse. I specialize in improvisation. I don't know what my story will be, but whatever I come up with to explain my presence, I want you to roll with it, okay?"

"Well, we do have a music festival coming to Canterlot soon," Twilight said. "I could say that you're a friend of my brother's who decided to stay in Ponyville for the coming weeks until the festival arrives. We could say that you're in a band or something."

Bass rubbed his chin with his left hoof. "I like it. Although, there are two major flaws in that statement. Actually, make that three. One: I don't have my bass. Two: I don't have a band. And Three: I don't know how to play bass with _these_!" He waved his hooves about.

"Hmm," Twilight thought. "Well, we don't have much time to plan out a skit for your cover story. You better just take that scenario and modify it as you see fit. You said you were good at improvising."

"How much longer do we have?" Bass asked.

The sound of metal grinding on metal came, and the conductor yelled out, "All stop! Next stop; Ponyville!"

"About that long," Twilight said with a nervous smile. "Better think fast."

Bass facehoofed, having forgotten that he even had hooves, and therefore bruised his forehead by hitting it too hard. "This is gonna be a long day."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Hello again. It's time to upload the next chapter. I don't really know what to put in the author's notes for stuff that I've written ages ago except that I sincerely hope I can come up with an ending for this fic. I mean, it's almost as long as a book that I wrote, but I don't have an ending in mind yet. Oh well. Chapter 2, everybody! Feel free to review or PM me for whatever reasons.

Till next time! :D


	4. Chapter 3: Dangerous Situations

_Revvin' up the engine, listen to her howl and roar…Highway to the danger zone! Take you right into the danger zone!_

* * *

The three stepped onto the platform. They had arrived in Ponyville, and Bass was _not_ excited. Sure, he usually _liked_ the nervous feeling he felt when he performed those stage plays back home. That was what he was feeling now, wasn't it; a sense of stage fright? That usually helped him make his performance better. Only, when he performed in those plays, he wasn't _actually_ trying to hide anything. He was only playing a character, after all, so there was no need to worry about what would happen should the audience find out that he's actually an actor rather than the character, because the audience already knows this. Now? He didn't want to think about what could happen should he mess this up.

To make matters worse, he didn't have anywhere near enough preparation time. He assumed that because Twilight wasn't due back for another day that nopony would greet them; so who the hell were these five mares that seemed to approach Twilight and Spike, who stood beside Bass.

"Howdy, Twi! Welcome home!" stated the orange colored mare with a noticeable country accent. Bass, back home, detested said accent most of the time, but he found that it was rather acceptable here. Maybe is all about the character of the individual using the accent?

"How did you know we were coming back today?" Twilight asked.

"I felt an ear flop, stomach ache, neck pop, tail twitch, back flip, tongue itch, burp blast!" exclaimed a seemingly hyperactive pink pony who was bouncing rather quickly and excitedly. "That means that a good friend is coming home early!"

Bass turned to Twilight, his eyes screaming "what the hell did I just witness?", but Twilight merely gave him a knowing smile.

"Yes, well, we thought it'd be nice to greet you, even though you were barely gone twenty-four hours," a marshmallow white unicorn said in a somewhat posh way. _Hm,_ Bass thought. _I've never had an excuse to use that particular descriptive term before. _He made a mental note of that observation. "Who, might I ask, is your _friend_ here, Twilight?"

Bass didn't like the obvious emphasis on the word "friend". "Oh, him? Well," Twilight looked nervously at Bass. "Why don't you introduce yourself? It's only proper."

Bass looked nervously (though from the outside, where his acting instincts kicked in minutes ago, he appeared calm and serene) at the five mares. Aside from the orange country mare, pink (and potentially drug filled) mare, and the posh unicorn, there were also two ponies flying on wings. Twilight had, on their way to get onboard the train back in Canterlot, explained the three main pony races, so Bass immediately recognized them as pegasi. One was light blue with a rainbow mane, and the other one was yellow with a pink mane. The rainbow one seemed rather tomboyish, and the yellow mare was obviously shy in Bass's presence.

He cleared his throat, and the act began. "Ladies," he began, using a "cool" voice. "The name's Bass Chord. I'm a bass guitar player who's in town for the music festival in Canterlot."

"Really? That's so awesome! Are you in a band?" the rainbow maned one assailed him in an instant.

Bass gave a dramatic sigh. "Sadly, last week my band decided to break up. We had hoped to perform for the festival, but I'm still happy to go as a spectator."

"Were in you in a big time band?" she asked.

"No, we were only just getting started. Before we could even _think_ about making it big, our lead singer decided to be a complete ass and quit on us." He looked over to a donkey passing by. "No offense."

"None taken," the donkey said before moving on.

Twilight nodded, keeping a mental note that he had not exaggerated when he said was a good actor, and that he was good at improvisation. "He's actually a friend of Shining Armor's. He had no choice but to come when he did because he was living with his band. When they split up, he was forced to come to Canterlot a month early. Shining sent a letter to Princess Celestia to redirect to me, and since I was there I got it straight from her. He needs a place to stay for a while, so I agreed to let him stay with me for the coming month," she added on to Bass's story.

"Really? Shining Armor has a friend that didn't join the Royal Guard?" the rainbow manes mare asked.

"Rainbow Dash, that's very rude. Everypony is different. Just because some like to live the rough military life doesn't mean everypony they know does. I find it more interesting that he's a musician," the unicorn said.

Bass was already trying to play off the rockstar character, and he was tempted to go just a little bit further with it, just to see what would happen. Naturally, the sane half of his brain was yelling at him to not do it, but his curiosity overcame him. He approached the unicorn and placed a hoof on her chin. His face was extremely close to hers. "I find it interesting that you find _me_ interesting," he said. _What the hell am I doing?_ He thought.

She blushed. "Oh, ho ho. Is that so?" She seemed too embarrassed to meet his eyes, but she wasn't arguing against the contact either. "M-my name's Rarity."

"Rarity, eh? I'll be sure to remember that." He stepped away. "So, who else do we have here?"

The mares didn't quite know how to react to what they just saw, and the orange one broke the silence after a long pause. "Oh, right. Mah name's Applejack. Pleased to meet ya, Bass." She extended a hoof, and Bass shook it.

"I'm Pinkie Pie! And I have to give you a welcome to Ponyville party ASAP!" the pink one exclaimed.

"Told you," Twilight whispered.

"I'm Rainbow Dash! You can call me Rainbow or Dash, or my full name! And you won't meet anypony more awesome than me!" the rainbow maned one bragged.

Bass smiled. "I may have to take that as a challenge at some point, you know."

Rainbow smiled back. "Good! I like a good challenge! How about right now! Right here!"

Bass waved a hoof. "I'll pass today. I need to get settled in and better acquainted with my home for the next month." He turned to the final pony; the yellow pegasus with the pink mane. "What might your name be?"

She looked away. "Fl—ter—y," she whispered.

"Pardon?"

"Flut-shy," she said again.

"You're gonna have to speak up, sweetie," Bass said. In his head, he cringed at his usage of the word "sweetie". _I'm letting the Rockstar character take too much control. This needs to wrap up soon!_

"Flutteshy," she finally said a little louder.

"Fluttershy, eh?" Bass chuckled lightly. "It makes sense, I'll give you that much. Nice to meet you."

"So, Bass, are ya wanting to get yer tour of Ponyville done right now, or later?" Applejack asked.

"At the risk of being rude, I think I'll pass on the tour for today. I'd like to get settled in first. You know, get comfortable with where I'm going to be staying and all that. I'd like to do that now, Twilight. Unless, you had something else in mind," he directed the last statement to Twilight herself.

"Well, we have to get ready for Pinkie's party anyway, so I guess we'll head home for now. See you guys at Sugar Cube Corner," Twilight said as she began to walk away.

"WAIT!" Pinkie exclaimed. Bass turned to face her and saw that she was gone. He turned back around in confusion and was startled to see her right in his face, practically staring into his soul.

"Um," he said, feeling uncomfortable. "May I help you?"

She continued to stare for several seconds, causing Bass to worry that she may have seen through his act. Finally she smiled and asked, "What's your favorite fruit? I have to know so I can bake as many pastries as I can with it!"

Bass tried to laugh, mentally wiping sweat off of his forehead. "I like apples best, actually. Strawberries are a close second though."

Pinkie nodded. "Okie dokie lokie!" She bounced away merrily, humming to herself the whole while.

Twilight and Bass gave their departing remarks and left for the Golden Oaks Library; Twilight's home. Upon entering, Bass was surprised by the fact that she lived in a freakin' library. "I wish I had a place like this back home," he said.

"Wait right here. I'm gonna go make sure the guest room is still in usable condition," Twilight said before walking upstairs.

Bass was about to start looking around, when he felt a claw poking him in the ribs. He turned to see a very upset Spike. "Uh, hey, Spike. You alright?"

"Stay away from her," he deadpanned.

"What? Twilight? What for?"

"Not Twilight. _Rarity_. Stay. Away. From. Her."

"Oh," he said, and it mentally clicked what was going on. He replied with a simple, knowing smile. "_You_ have a crush on _Rarity,_ don't you?"

Spike blushed. "Th-that's not the point here! My point is-"

"Hush, Spike my boy. Don't you worry your scaly head about it. What you saw was me simply acting a character. The archtype for the character was 'Rockstar', so I had to act just like a rockstar to make the character believable. I have no plans for your precious Rarity. She's all yours."

Spike looked at him, unconvinced. "Why should I believe you? You could be acting right now!"

Bass sighed. "With that mindset, you can argue away anything I do as being a lie, couldn't you?"

Spike paused. "I didn't think about it like that."

"How's this, then. For as long as I have to play the rockstar, I will only pursue your Rarity if I try to sneak in hints about _you_ to her. How's that?"

Spike looked at Bass in awe. "Why would you do that for me?"

"Oh, Spike. Believe me. I may not be that old, but neither am I as young as I was. I know all about love. Especially when you're crushing after someone," Bass paused. "Somepony, rather."

Spike smiled as he imagined him and Rarity on a date. Then a thought struck him. "Wait, how old are you, exactly?"

Bass shrugged. "How long is a year in this world?"

"Three hundred sixty-five days."

"Oh," Bass said with a slight surprise. "Lucky me; your calendar is the same length as mine. In that case, this won't take any math to tell you. I'm twenty-years-old."

"Twilight's older than you?" Spike asked.

"She is?" Bass added.

"Yeah, she's about twenty-four."

"Hm," Bass thought for a moment. "That's interesting."

Twilight came back. "The candlesticks weren't properly organized, but I fixed it so it's okay. The guest room is now available, Bass." She pointed to the door in question.

"Thank you, ma'am," Bass said with a slight teasing tone as he walked up the stairs to where she was pointing.

Twilight stared and blinked at him. She turned to Spike. "Why'd he call me ma'am?" she asked.

Spike chuckled quietly to himself. "Beats me."

* * *

A few hours later, Bass, Twilight, and Spike were arriving at Sugar Cube Corner. "I don't know how much longer I can keep up the 'rockstar' act before I lose it and start _trying_ to actually be a rock star," Bass groaned.

"Don't worry about, Bass. I'm sure you can do it. You did so well, earlier," Twilight said. "Maybe a little too well, yeah, but well all the same."

He sighed and opened the door, letting Twilight and Spike go in first. He followed close behind and looked up from the ground. Needless to say, the saying "You'll shit bricks" was the only thing that came to his mind when he saw how detailed everything was. There was a banner with his name stitched onto it that said, "Welcome, Bass Chord!" On the snack bar was a delicately stacked pile of cupcakes that he wasn't entirely sure were meant for eating due to the artistic nature in which they were displayed. Each one had his cutie mark on top made of icing. There was a stereo playing (what Bass could only assume was) a style of rock music, and in the center of the room was a black four stringed bass guitar with a card that said "To: Bass Chord. From: Ponyville."

"What the hell?" was the only thing he could mutter. "How in the hell did they set this up so quickly? Especially considering the amount of detail!"

"That's Pinkie for you. She pulls out all the stoppers when it comes to parties," Spike said. "I'm gonna go grab some snacks. See you later, Twi." He waddled away to the cupcakes.

"WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!" exclaimed the hyperactive pink pony herself. From where she came from even Bass had no idea. He even thought that God himself didn't know. Then he questioned God's presence on such an alien world and put the thought from his mind and shrugged. "How do you like it? I couldn't do as much as I wanted to on such short notice, but I think it still came out alright!"

"Wait, you mean if you had more time you could have done _more_?" Bass asked. "How the hell is that possible?"

Pinkie nodded. "Well, I would've liked to have a huge row of fireworks that would all explode and look like your cutie mark. Then, I would have even _more_ fireworks that would play music as they exploded. And _then_, I would use even _more_ fireworks to explode into cupcakes that would land on everypony's plates."

Bass was at a complete loss for words. Before he could say any words of appreciation, the other four mares approached them from out of the crowd (which appeared to be most of the town). "Howdy there again, Bass. You enjoying your stay so far?"

Bass couldn't help but nod. "You bet. Better than any hotel I've stayed at before. None of them have this level of 'you' in anything they do."

"Did you try the cupcakes yet?" Pinkie asked.

Bass shook his head. "I only just arrived."

"Here!" she exclaimed as she procured a cupcake from mother freakin' nowhere. Bass tasted it, and was pleased to find that it was filled with baked apples. Pinkie handed him a second one, which he was even more pleased to find it was full of strawberries. "I wanted to make a batch that had both apples _and_ strawberries, but I think eating two at once is better anyway."

"Would you like to give a speech of gratitude?" Twilight asked.

Bass was nervous, but he felt he had already been rude enough as it was today. He nodded. They walked him to the stage that Pinkie had built in the middle of the bakery and clapped her hooves to quiet the crowd. "Ahem," he began. "Uh, hi. My name's Bass Chord. I'm a bass guitar player who's visiting until the music festival in Canterlot next month. I'd just like to say-"

"That you're actually not a pony but a being from another world who has no idea how he got here in the first place and that Princess Celestia wants you to teach Twilight about your world while you learn about our world and Celestia's best researchers look for a way home for you and the rock star persona is actually just an act so you can have a cover story to explain your existence in Equestria which is only based on the part truth that you can actually play bass?" Pinkie said in a single breath.

Bass, Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Spike, and all of the crowd stared in disbelief at Pinkie.

Bass knew that, to everypony else, Pinkie's rambling was nonsense. _All I have to do is give a quick response denying all of it, and I'll be-_

"How did you know?" Twilight asked.

"DAMN IT!" Bass exclaimed.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I would like to point out that any and all mistakes found in these chapters is due solely to the fact that I've edited this fic a little already over on fimfiction, and I'm just lazy as hell and don't want to do it again. For that, I apologize. Till next Tuesday!


	5. Chapter 4: Confusion

_He's just a poor boy from a poor family; spare him his life from this monstrosity. Easy come, easy go. Will you let me go? No, we will not let you go! Let him go! Will not let you go! Let me go! Will not let you go! Never let you go! Now let me go! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me!_

Everypony stared at Bass. Confusion, awe, and even a slight hint of fear resided within everypony's eyes. Bass didn't like it. In fact, it enraged him that he had planned out so many different scripts and lines to hide his true identity and they were all for nothing. Twilight noticed the anger on Bass's face (it wasn't the hardest thing in the world to spot, really), and her ears drooped as she realized what she had just done. "I-I'm sorry, Bass. I didn't mean to let that slip out like that," she apologized.

Bass closed his eyes and took several deep breaths to calm his self. He didn't like being angry; he considered it to uncouth and impolite. "It's okay, Twilight," he said. "It's only a slight inconvenience that the entire town knows the truth."

The room was silent for several minutes before a bright blueish green unicorn mare spoke up; "We've a dragon, a student to the princess, and Pinkie Pie. Whatever you are is nothing compared to what we've seen."

Bass stared blankly at the mare. Her mane was somewhat minty looking, and her cutie mark was of a lyre. "You can't seriously be saying that you don't want an explanation," he stated.

"As long as you don't destroy town," said another mare. This one was brown with a gray mane and wearing glasses. "We won't really mind."

Before Bass could form a response, Twilight stepped up stage. "Well, we thank you all for your understanding and consideration, be we should really be heading home now," she said with a nervous laugh.

Bass nodded in agreement. _I have a headache_, he thought.

"Girls," Twilight said to her friends. "Meet up at my house as soon as possible. We'll give a proper explanation there."

The others replied with their agreements, and Bass, Twilight, and Spike all left and began to make their way back to Golden Oaks Library. "Bass," Twilight said. "I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean to let that slip out. It's just that Pinkie is always so…_out there_. I don't understand how she does what she does."

"It confused you and you broke character for a moment," he replied with. "I guess I was expecting too much. In light of how the outcome played out, I suppose I can forgive you."

"Are you sure?" she asked timidly. She really was worried that she had angered him too much.

"We got lucky. It saved me a lot of trouble in the long run, really. I guess at least a month of playing the 'rockstar' would've been too much for me as well. I guess, what I'm saying is that this is how it would have ended up anyway. We just save some time by cutting the crap."

Twilight looked at Bass for a moment, and then smiled. "I guess you're right."

* * *

The others arrived at the library not long after Twilight and Bass had arrived. Spike decided to go to bed rather than listen to the same explanation multiple times, so the seven ponies sat in Twilight's living room (which was really just the main room of the library) and waited.

Bass sighed. "I guess I should start," he said. "Last night I appeared in the maze in the royal gardens, or whatever they were, at that castle in Canterlot. I wasn't awake until sometime later when I came to realize that I wasn't in my original body, but the body of a talking pony, surrounded by other talking ponies. Needless to say, I was shocked and fainted promptly…which I can confidently say has never happened before, so that's a new experience to me. Anyway, I woke up today in Twilight's old room at the castle and was told by Princess Celestia to accompany Twilight back here to Ponyville to teach her about my world, and in turn learn about this world. Any questions?"

Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie just stared at him.

Fluttershy was the first to speak. "Um, if you don't mind my asking…what were you before being a pony?"

Bass laughed. "Celestia and Twilight hadn't heard of my race, so I don't expect you to. But, if you really want to know, I was human." The confusion of Fluttershy's face spoke volumes, in spite of her quiet nature.

Rarity cleared her throat. "Fluttershy here is a fond lover of animals, and is always curious about new creatures that she's never seen before. Not to refer to you as an animal, of course," she hastily added at the end. She was clearly nervous, and Bass knew why.

"Rarity," he started.

"Yes!? Can I help you?" she laughed nervously.

"I apologize for earlier. I don't actually act like that. In fact, I was screaming on the inside about the fact that I was taking the character just a _little_ too far." He bowed his head.

"O-oh," Rarity replied. "Well, I suppose I can forgive you. You were, after all, trying to protect yourself by acting. Might I add that you are a splendid actor? Were it not for Pinkie and Twilight, I don't think I would have ever figured it out."

Bass couldn't help but smile. "Thank you."

"Ah honestly don't see why ya didn't just tell us, Twi. We wouldn't have been against it or anything. In fact, ah would've wanted to help ya," Applejack stated.

"I know, girls. But Bass didn't want anypony else to know unless it was absolutely necessary. I was just trying to honor his request," Twilight replied.

"Well, have you learned anything about his world yet? How cool is it?" Rainbow Dash asked. She seemed to be interested in the new turn of events.

"Well, all I've learned so far is that Bass in particular is an actor, reader, writer, and musician, and that he's a university student on his world."

Rainbow stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Another egghead? No offense, Twi, but I can barely stand one know it all."

Bass laughed. "Oh, trust me on this. If you could see my grades, you'd know I'm no egghead. I'm going through school to be a literature teacher because all I _can_ do is read and write. Math and science are _not_ my strong points by any means." Bass paused to think. "I am rather decent at history, however."

"Oh!" Pinkie said suddenly. "Can you actually play bass?" she asked.

"Yeah," Bass said. Then he smiled a smile that beamed with pride. "Actually, I play both guitar and bass. I also sing from time to time, but I'm not so hot at that."

"Hmm," Pinkie said. She pulled an acoustic guitar out from nowhere. _Where in the name of all that is holy did that come from?_ Bass thought. "Here, play it!" she demanded with a beaming smile.

"Um," he said. "I could try, but my human body doesn't have hooves, so this may be a bit difficult at first." He picked up the guitar and held it as he was supposed to. He tried to play a few notes…scratch that. He _did_ play a few notes. "Huh," he said. "That wasn't as hard as I was expecting it to be." He didn't fully understand how he was pressing down on the individual strings with his hooves, but frankly he didn't care enough to argue.

He smiled. "What do you want me to play? Give me a theme."

Before anyone could reply, Twilight raised a hoof. "Actually, I'm rather curious. They say that the musician's feelings are in the songs he sings and plays. I'm actually interested to know how you actually feel about being here in this world instead of your own. If you don't mind that is." She quickly added that last bit.

Bass stared at her for a minute, trying to collect his thoughts and feelings and find a song he knew that matched them. He wasn't talented enough to write his own music, but he was very good at memorizing and covering other songs, and he remembered the perfect song. At least, he felt it was perfect.

The guitar seemed to play on its own to him. He let the memory of the song and the feelings he felt wash through him as he played. The music drifted gently and sadly through the room. Then, he began to sing:

_Another day in this carnival of souls  
Another night settles in as quickly as it goes  
The memories of shadows, ink on the page  
And I can't seem to find my way home_

And it's almost like  
Your heaven's trying everything  
Your heaven's trying everything  
To keep me out

All the places I've been and things I've seen  
A million stories that made up a million shattered dreams  
The faces of people I'll never see again  
And I can't seem to find my way home

Cause it's almost like  
Your heaven's trying everything to break me down  
Cause it's almost like  
Your heaven's trying everything to keep me out.

He ended the song early, because it only repeated the same verse after that last line, and he improvised the guitar to end appropriately. He looked up and saw tears in the other ponies' eyes, which took him by surprise. Rainbow was hurriedly trying to hide the few tears she had in her eyes while the others weren't looking.

"That was amazing," Twilight said. "Did you write that?"

Bass shook his head. "I'm not that talented. I can only do covers."

"You really should play in the music festival!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Only, you're not part of any major band that's attending, so you can't do that."

"Actually," Rainbow said. "There's a battle of the bands segment this year." They all turned to stare at Rainbow. "What? Have none of you gone to the festival before?" They all shook their heads. "That's too bad. I've gone every year, unless a Wonderbolts show conflicted with it. Sometimes the Wonderbolts would actually open the show by flying in as the first band stepped onto the stage. It's really cool."

"Well," Bass said. "As 'cool' as that is, I don't have a band." His belly began to rumble. "And today seems to have taken a toll on me; I haven't eaten since those cupcakes earlier."

"You want some more?" Pinkie asked.

Bass shook his head. "Sorry, but sweets really aren't my thing. I like sugar well enough, but too much of it makes me sick at my stomach. I'd rather have real food."

"So, what do you want?" Twilight asked.

Bass thought about it. He was about to answer with philly cheese steak, but then he realized there in rose a problem. _Oh my god! They're all herbivores. I can't ask for meat!_ He thought. "Uh," he said, beginning to sweat. "What do you normally eat around here?" He thought that it was a safe way out of the question.

"Well, we eat flower sandwiches, hay, oats…stuff like that."

Bass could feel the color leaving his face, and was thankful that he was now covered in a coat of fur to hide his lack of blood. "Uh, anything else? What about fruits or vegetables?"

"Yeah. We eat carrots, turnips, onions, bananas, strawberries, apples…"

"Apples! I'll have apples!" He felt a little bit embarrassed. He had already expressed his love for apples earlier that day. _Well, at least I know of something I can eat_, he thought.

"Ah got ya covered sugarcube. I'll be right back with the best apples you've ever had!" Applejack announced proudly as she left.

"By the way," Rarity started. "Why did you ask what we normally ate? What about you?"

He looked around nervously. Suddenly, a quote from his favorite animated show came to mind. "T-that's classified!"

The remaining mares all stared at him. They weren't buying it.

Bass sighed._Mikuru Asahina makes that phrase look so damn easy to say. __The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya__ is full of shit!_

* * *

**Author's Note**

See? _SEE!?_ I said it before in a different fic: If I tried to follow a schedule then I'd be about as punctual as VG Cats. This was supposed to be here YESTERDAY, but I completely forgot for whatever reason.

Also, as stated, there are currently 16 total chapters of this written, so these are just reposts from my FiMfiction account. You know, I reread these as I upload them here, and I realize more and more that this is absolute shit. I mean, I'm committed, so I'm still gonna try and finish it, but seriously: please do not judge my skill based on this story. I was really, _really_ bored when I started this. Oh well, till next week when I try to follow my own god damn schedule again...SHOULD be Tuesday.

Till next time.


	6. Chapter 5: Monstrous Appetite

_Your magic white rabbit has left its writing on the wall. We follow, like Alice, and just keep diving down the hole. We're falling and we're losing control. You're pulling us, dragging us down this dead end road._

Bass could almost actually hear the awkwardness in the room for a few minutes, but as time went onward the air returned to normal and the eight, which included Spike, just had a good time. Bass learned a few more things about Equestria, such as the economy to a certain degree. He was terrible at math, so he didn't want to even think about comparing the bit to the dollar back home, but seeing as how it was made of gold he wagered it was worth a bit more than a dollar. He laughed internally at his unintentional pun.

He also learned about the weather. Back home he found the weather to be fascinating as nature rampaged uncontrollable or sat idly by while the heat of Sol warmed the Earth in comfort. When he was little, he used to be afraid of storms and such, but one day (and he doesn't really remember why) he decided he would step outside onto his front porch and watch the storm rampage. He remembered feeling calm, even a trace amount of serenity and inner peace. While the wind blew and the lightning struck, he felt he was seeing something incredible. And it was through the rough Rainbow Dash that he learned, by sheer accident really, that the weather in Equestria was boring and uninteresting by his standards. That conversation went a little like this:

"Rainbow, shouldn't you be home right now? You have a busy day tomorrow, don't you?" Rarity asked in that posh voice of hers. Bass felt he was wearing that word out, but he still liked it.

"Nah, the boss is on vacation this week, so I'm in charge until he gets back. That means everyone else is doing the hard work," Rainbow Dash replied. Bass cocked an eyebrow, thinking that she sounded a little irresponsible to be an Assistant Manager. Or, at least, that's what he assumed her role was for her work…whatever it may be.

"But isn't tomorrow supposed to be the first major storm of the year now that winter is over; the first big rain to replenish all the water reservoirs for the farmponies and such?"

"Well, yeah, but all I have to do is tell them where to put the clouds while I sit back and watch. I won't have to actually get directly involved unless something goes wrong. Like, if we were to have an unexpected tornado because one the newbies screwed up, then I would step in. Otherwise, I'm supervising."

Bass was trying to figure out what her job must have been, but the cloud moving and a tornado occurring due to a mistake threw him for a loop. "I'm sorry, miss Dash," he said, jumping into his polite speech again. "What exactly do you do for a living?"

"I'm a weatherpony. We make it rain, storm, snow, and occasionally hail if the situation calls for it. Tornadoes are a required occurrence on a rare occasion, but that's only about once a year at best that we do that, and we tend to keep them under control…most of the time."

Applejack glared at Rainbow as she finished that statement. "Ya need ta keep 'em under control _all_ the time. We had ta rebuild the barn over a year ago because of you, remember?"

Rainbow groaned. "I said I was sorry, didn't I? Besides, what's it matter? You rebuild that barn at least twice a year!"

"Because it keeps getting destroyed!"

"You asked me to destroy it last time, remember? Sonic Rain Nuke ring a bell?"

"That's not what Ah'm talking about!"

"OKAY!" Bass exclaimed. "I think we're getting a little side tracked, don't you?" The two mares nodded. "Okay. Next question: why the hell do you need to control the weather? Shouldn't the weather do its own thing?"

Rainbow shook her head. "Only in the Everfree Forest does the weather occur on its own. Everywhere else we have to make it happen, otherwise it won't happen. Get it?"

"Uh huh…that's insane. Back on Earth the weather just happens. We may have a really wet rainy season, or a very bad drought, and there will be nothing we can do about it. Sometimes we think we know what it will do but then it'll surprise us."

"Wait, so your home is like the Everfree? Does that mean its full of trees and wild animals too?" Twilight asked.

"No, actually. Er, well, yes and no. That's a tad complicated to answer. You see, there are seven continents on my world. I'm from a continent called North America. The Americas, which are North and South, weren't discovered until about six hundred years ago, and we have history that dates back over six thousand years or more, and that's just the recorded history. God knows what there was before that. Anyway, Europe, Africa, and Asia were pretty well populated and still had wild areas that weren't inhabited, but then the Americas were discovered. Of the native people that actually lived there before they were discovered, very few build permanent residence, so the majority of both land massed, which stretched almost perfectly from the North Pole to the South Pole, was wild and unexplored," Bass replied.

"But it's not now?" Twilight asked.

"No. I say that with both regret and thankfulness. Most of it has been destroyed in the last two hundred years to make way for a growing nation. Now, the country I live in makes up half of North America, and very little of it is wilderness. There are a few places that are fenced off and protected by the government to allow the wild animals to live in peace away from civilization, but even those aren't completely safe from hunters, both legal and illegal."

"Hunters?" Fluttershy asked. "You hunt and kill animals?" Under the fear in her voice, Bass could have sworn the he sensed disgust.

_Shit_, he thought. _I shouldn't have said that_. "Well," he said. "You see, we, uh…" He realized there was no other way around it, so he decided to jump straight into the meat and potatoes of the problem. "Listen, I didn't want to tell you this because of what you are, but this is a problem I will have to face here eventually. My kind doesn't survive on fruit and vegetables alone. Our bodies are different than most creatures on my world. Yes, we do need fruit and vegetables, but they only provide half of what we need to keep our bodies functioning. We also eat meat."

He could feel the eyes on him now. Rarity cleared her throat. "So, that's why…"

"Why I made that cheesy joke about my question being classified? Yes."

Of all of the ponies gazes, he felt Fluttershy's the most. He looked at her and saw not what he expected. He expected disgust and contempt; instead he saw curiosity and compassion, and maybe even a hint of pity. "Your species are a race of omnivores, then?" she asked. He nodded. She smiled. "Nature is so fascinating, isn't it?" she asked the others.

"Uh, Flutters? He just admitted to having eaten other animals. Doesn't that bother ya?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, normally yes. But, he wasn't originally a pony, and so his biology was once completely different. What his body needed when he was a human is only natural to him. It's not that he's evil or a monster, but he simply needed meat in addition to fruits and vegetables to survive."

Twilight couldn't help but agree it would seem, and so she turned to Bass. "Did everypony…"

"Every_one_, actually. We aren't ponies on my world, remember." Bass corrected.

Twilight blushed in embarrassment of her mistake. "Did everyone eat the same foods?"

Bass shook his head. "Before I go into detail for that answer, do you _really_ want to know my diet?"

"Well," Twilight started. "First, a simple yes or no question: did you eat pony meat? You seemed to imply that ponies exist on your world, or at least similar creatures."

Bass winced at the question. "Me specifically: no. My country: not that I am aware of. Anywhere else in the world: It all depends on where you go. Some do, most don't, and not for any particular reason other than there are other meats available. That or pony is an acquired taste. I don't know. Haven't eaten any myself, nor have I ever really wanted to. After this experience, if I can go home, I will _never_ touch pony meat."

Twilight shivered. "Not exactly the answer I was hoping for, but oh well." She looked at the others. "Do you girls want to know?"

Rainbow shrugged. "I'm okay with him eating meat in his other body. It doesn't bother me. Remember, I was friends with Gilda. Need I remind you that she's a griffon. They eat only meat for their primary diet."

Flutteshy shook her head. "It doesn't bother me, but I think I would rather have that conversation with him in private so I can understand his species more. But, um, that's only if you want to."

"Well, Ah'm good," Applejack said. "Ah suppose Ah can't really judge him for how his body works, but Ah've heard enough to suit me just fine."

Pinkie shrugged. "Meh, I don't really care."

Rarity shook her head. "I think I'll pass. I'm sorry if I find the thought of eating another living creature distasteful, but I would rather not hear about his _meaty_ exploits."

"Well, I don't care if the votes are outnumbered, due to Applejack and Rarity not wanting to know, I will not disclose the information at present. However," he turned to Fluttershy. "If you really want to know, then we'll set up a time to discuss it."

Fluttershy nodded excitedly. "Oh, yes, that would be wonderful. I just have one question: when you turned into a pony, did your bodily needs also switch over?"

Bass shrugged. "I don't know if that would be psychological or physical really. I mean, my body's needs may have changed, but I'll go ahead and admit that my head still wants me to have meat."

"Hmm," Fluttershy said. "I'm sorry for asking, but may I have a peek inside your mouth? I mean, I totally understand if you don't want me to, and I don't want to force you into anything…"

Bass interrupted her. "Go ahead. I've got nothing to hide at this point." He scooted closer to where she was seated and said, "Aaaaaaaaah!" His mouth was open.

Fluttershy put a hoof on her chin as she inspected his teeth. Her eyes seemed to go wide for a split second, but the sight quickly vanished as she regained her composure; Bass may have been the only on to notice. "You're teeth look normal enough," she said. "We can have our chat tomorrow if that's okay with you."

He closed his mouth. _Normal, eh? Who's normal?_ Bass thought. "Sure," he said with a smile.

And that's how the eight of them passed the time, essentially. Twilight bid them farewell, and showed Bass to the guest room once more. "I guess I'll take you to Fluttershy's cottage tomorrow, since you don't know the way."

He nodded. "Thank you, Twilight," he replied. "I'm sure I've been a real pain in the ass for you today. I was in your bed, I was rude, I made you act, and now you know I eat meat and the like. This must have been one of the roughest days you've ever had."

She smiled. "You weren't here when we fought Discord."

"That dragon-horse-goat-bat dude?"

"Yes, him. He kind of almost destroyed everything we love when he first broke free. We only recently released him again, this time on purpose, to sort of 'tame' him."

Bass laughed. "You're not much older than me, yet you've clearly led a more interesting life."

"I don't know. Your world sounds interesting to me," she said with a smile.

Bass returned the smile. "Who knows; maybe one day you'll visit it."

Twilight continued smiling. "Good night Bass," she said as she left his new room.

"G'night, Twilight," he replied before laying in his new bed. However, in spite of how tired he was, he was doomed to not rest well. He was plagued by nightmares all night long until the sun came up the next morning; and it was all because he wasn't home.

* * *

**Author's Note**

I did it again, didn't I? I was so focused over the past week on my terrible case of writer's block that I once again forgot to post the next chapter of this when I said I would. Well, happy Wednesday. I suppose. I dunno. I was really sleepy yesterday and went to bed early. Woke up at 3AM (EDT). Also, do you guys know if #15 of the MLP comics is any good? I ordered it and #16 at the same time, but #15 is stuck in Georgia right now, and #16 is staring at me from my desk, begging to be read. I can't read it though until I read #15! Damn you fedex for getting halfway to my house and then turning around and adding a week to my waiting time!

So, check it! Bass is about to get a better understanding of the remaining members of the mane six! The next four chapters will have Bass meeting the other five members of the main cast on a slightly more personal level. So, there's a month's worth of interesting for you. Till (hopefully if I remember!) next Tuesday!

Till next time!


	7. Chapter 6: Dawn of the Second Day

_All our times have come. Here but now they're gone. Seasons don't fear the Reaper, nor do the wind, the sun, or the rain. We can be like they are. Come on baby, don't fear the Reaper. _

Bass had never felt so tired in his entire life. Sure, he had stayed up for twenty-four hours at parties with his friends before, but he chose to do that and he felt okay afterwards. Not perfect, mind you, but okay enough to function properly. This? This was different. It's one thing to avoid sleep, and another thing entirely to completely lose sleep. All because of those blasted nightmare. All he wanted to do was scream profanities, punch his own head, and go back to sleep: not even in that particular order. Just as he was about to start grumbling, he heard a knock at the door.

"Bass," came the voice of Twilight. "Are you up?"

"Y-e-p-!" he tried to reply, only to find that his voice was rough from lack of use; he referred to it as his morning voice. He cleared his throat to correct the problem. "Yeah, I'm up. Come on in."

Twilight opened the door slowly and peered inside, careful not to disturb anything Bass may have been doing. Upon finding him sitting up in bed she widened the door's opening and entered. "I hope I didn't wake you," she said.

Bass resisted the urge to 'hmph' in response and opted to simply say that she hadn't; he was already awake.

She smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. _She must not be used to having men, er, stallions over at her home,_ Bass thought. "I made some blueberry waffles for breakfast if you want some."

"That sounds nice, actually," Bass said. He jumped out of bed and almost hit the floor face first. Twilight managed to run over and stop him from crashing by holding him up with her hooves. Bass tried to laugh it off. "Guess I'm still not used to this body."

He steadied himself and Twilight released him, unsure if he could stand on his own. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I've had worse."

She still felt unsure, so she walked with him down the stairs to make sure he didn't trip and kill himself on the steps. He arrived alive and in one piece to the dining room where found two plates of blueberry waffles. He sat down and gave a silent prayer before digging in. Twilight sat opposite of him and also started to eat. As they ate, however, Twilight noticed something about Bass's face that worried her. "Bass, how well did you sleep?"

He stopped dead in his tracks. "As well as can be expected, I suppose. Why?"

"Because I can see dark circles and tired lines on your face. They're subtle, but I see them just fine. You didn't sleep at all did you?"

"Well," Bass began. "Back home I didn't sleep all that much anyway. Sometimes I stayed up late working, or maybe I felt uncomfortable and just couldn't sleep. I've done better in recent years, but I've had those dark circles and tired lines for over seven years now." He technically wasn't lying. In his human body he always looked tired. He didn't always feel tired, due to the fact that he was sleeping better than usual, but he still carried the physical signs of an insomniac due to the years of sleep deprivation. However, he didn't truly know if those features carried over into his pony form.

"Yesterday you didn't have that tired look yesterday, Bass. But you do today. Did you sleep at all?"

Bass was getting irritated. He didn't want to be irritated, because he knew that she was only concerned for his health. Considering that they barely knew each other, she probably felt that it was only appropriate to want anypony you meet to be healthy and fit, so that's why Bass tried not to get upset. "Look, Twilight, whatever issues I'm having with my sleep, I'm sure I can figure them out on my own. The longer I'm here and the more adjusted I get to this world, the better I'll function as a pony. Please, don't worry yourself over any little hiccup in my health." He felt his irritation melt away as he spoke; another special talent of his was to calm him down by speaking calmly. Hearing a calm voice would calm him down, essentially.

Twilight wanted to press on, but decided not to. They finished their meal and set out the door to give Bass a tour of Ponyville. Fluttershy had requested that Bass come to her place around noon, so Twilight gave him a rundown of the town in the passing time. Bass felt like he usually did in a new place; intimidated, unsure, and challenged. It was the sense of challenge that he loved most though. Being able to memorize a new town was something he loved doing, that way anytime a friend came to that town for the first time he could show them around himself.

In what felt like no time at all, noon had come around and Twilight escorted Bass to Fluttershy's cottage. Bass felt like he was staring at a scene from Tolkien's _The Hobbit_ when the cottage came into view. It looked to him like it was built inside of a hill. Upon closer examination he retracted that belief, and decided that a hill was built on top of the house. Both theories aside, he rather liked the look of the place. It seemed peaceful and set apart from the rest of civilization. For someone like Fluttershy, whose very name implied a timid nature, it was the answer to any social problems; cut out society.

"How much of an introvert is she?" Bass asked.

Twilight stifled a giggle. "Well, she may be shy, but she's one of the best ponies I know. Just don't make her angry."

Bass nodded. "I can see that."

Twilight turned her gaze to him. "Really? Most ponies don't believe me when I say that."

Bass nodded with a slight grin before saying, "It's always the quiet ones."

"I see," she replied. "Let's just go see her, okay?"

The pair walked up to Fluttershy's door and knocked. The door creaked open slightly as somepony opened it from inside. A pair of green eyes peered through the crack, identified Bass and Twilight, and the door opened to reveal Fluttershy smiling at them. "Welcome, Bass. Welcome, Twilight."

"Hello, Fluttershy. Where do you want me?" Bass asked.

Fluttershy stared blankly at him. "What do you mean?"

"Where do you want to have our chat about my diet?" he asked again.

"Oh, please follow me." She led the two into her living room and beckoned them to sit. "Oh, do you like tea, Bass?"

"As a matter of fact I do," he replied with a smile. "Preferably hot, though."

"I agree. What kind do you like?"

Bass began to think. "I don't know what you would call it, but I am rather fond of Earl Grey. I just hope that's what it's called here, otherwise finding it is going to be a pain in the ass."

Fluttershy flinched at his use of profanity, but didn't say a word otherwise. Bass noticed of course. She thought for a moment. "We do actually have that kind of tea, believe it or not. I'll go make a pot of it. Do you take sugar?"

"None thank you. Only iced tea should be sweet in my opinion. Hot tea is the type of tea I drink to relax." She nodded and exited the room to prepare the tea. Bass turned to Twilight. "I feel like I made her uncomfortable with what I just said."

"Well, profanity isn't something most ponies in Ponyville use, or at least not as openly as you do. I've heard Applejack swear a time or two in frustration, but otherwise she's very clean spoken. Fluttershy may not appreciate it," Twilight explained.

"I see," Bass replied.

Fluttershy came back a few minutes later. "The tea is ready," she said as she brought three cups of tea. "I hope you enjoy it." The three ponies began to drink their tea respectively when Fluttershy turned to Twilight. "Um, Twilight?"

"Yes, Fluttershy?" she replied.

"I'm really sorry to have to ask you this, but would it be alright if it were just Bass and I talking? I would like to keep it private for his sake. I mean, if that's okay with you. If you would rather stay then I guess you could."

Twilight sipped the last of her tea. "It's alright, Fluttershy. While I am deeply curious about what you're going to be talking about, I don't have a problem leaving. If Bass wants to tell me later he can, unless you have other plans, of course."

"Oh, thank you so much for understanding, Twilight."

"Well, Bass, can you remember your way back to the library?"

He nodded. "I should be able to. See you later, I guess."

Twilight gave her parting remarks and left. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. _Was Twilight making her nervous or something?_ Bass thought.

"Bass," Fluttershy began, sounding awfully serious. "I have something important to tell you. When I looked at your teeth yesterday I noticed that you still have your carnivorous teeth."

Bass stared at her blankly. "So, my canines are still in my mouth, in spite of the fact that I'm not human anymore?"

"Yes, and this raises a problem for you. If your teeth didn't fully convert to being a pony, maybe the rest of your digestive system didn't either. It's possible that some of the foods we eat are not digestible to you, and you may still require meat to survive."

Bass thought for a moment. "Ordinarily hearing that I can still eat meat would make me happy, but I'm not supposed to eat meat, am I? I'm a god damn pony for goodness sake!" Fluttershy flinched at his profanity again. Bass also flinched because he made her flinch. "Sorry about that. That's just kinda how I talk. I don't mean to come off as…" He was about to say 'an asshole' but he stopped himself. "As a jerk."

"I understand," Fluttershy said. "But that's not the issue. The issue is what foods you can and can't eat. I'm afraid the only way to find out is the obvious way."

"Let me guess; take a crash course in taste testing?"

"Something like that. Obviously fruits and vegetables are okay with you, based on your word. What about flowers and hay?"

"Well, if my body is internally the same as before, then the answer is no. If only my teeth stayed then maybe yes. I honestly couldn't tell you."

"Have you seen your teeth in a mirror yet?" Bass shook his head. Fluttershy exited the room for a moment and returned with a little mirror that slipped onto her hoof. She held it up and showed Bass his own reflection.

He smiled and gazed at his own teeth. He noticed two things; his canines were actually there, but they were not as prominent as when he was human. They were obviously carnivorous teeth if you looked this close, but they were rounding off more now and would look like incisors from a distance. "They're not as sharp as before," he announced. "They changed partially."

"Really?" Fluttershy said, surprised.

"I'm amazed you didn't notice," Bass said.

Flutteshy blushed. "Well, I haven't seen what a human would look like normally, so I don't know what to expect from their teeth."

"Question; why did you even want to look in my mouth to begin with?"

She blushed again. "I'm sorry if I overstepped any boundaries by doing that."

"I gave you permission, so apology is denied due to lack of necessity," he said jokingly.

"Oh, right. Well, it was an errant thought of mine, really. I thought of the potential that your teeth didn't change since your psychological need for meat didn't change."

"I think that's just because that's how I grew up. I always ate meat, so my mind expects meat." He lost himself in thought again as he considered something. "Maybe we don't have to worry about my diet. I can try foods as I go along, and if I like them I like them, and vice versa."

Fluttershy nodded. "That might work." She looked around nervously, but she also seemed happy to have the topic resolved.

"I guess we're done here, unless you have something else you want to talk about," Bass said.

"I actually have a question. Personal curiosity, mind you"

"Sure, go for it."

"Did you have any pets back on your own world?"

Bass felt a sense of sadness wash over him, and his nightmares from the night before returned for a split second. "Yeah," he said, almost nostalgically. _Only a day, and I already miss them._ He thought. "I had a dog and a cat."

Fluttershy picked up on Bass's emotions very quickly. "You miss them don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I do. Honestly, even if I were with them, they'd amaze me that they've lived as long as they have. My dog is sixteen-years-old, and my cat is ten-years-old."

"Oh my," Fluttershy replied. "They are quite old."

"Yeah, they are. And I grew up with them both."

"What are their names?"

Bass laughed. "They're really odd names, just so you know."

"I won't make fun of them."

Bass shrugged. "My dad works for the city street department of my town. They were picking up garbage one day and they found a stray Labrador pup on a street called Troxell Drive. Dad brought him home to give to my mom but mom didn't want him; little four-year-old me wanted to keep him, so we did. Dad named him Troxell after the street he was found on."

"I think that's a sweet name with an even sweeter story behind it," she said smiling.

"Good luck feeling that way about my cat. He was born on my back porch in a litter of three kittens. The other two were energetic and playful, but he was only playful part of the time. The remainder of his time he just sort of chilled out and relaxed. Kind of like any average adult cat, really, but that's not normal for a kitten. He acted like he was stoned on something, so dad named him Little Dude." Bass laughed as he finished the story. "Even in his old age that cat doesn't care about his surroundings. He just lays there without a care in the world."

Fluttershy laughed. "I think that's cute."

Bass smiled, but he still felt sad. "Unless I find a way home, I'll never see them again."

Fluttershy looked at him for a moment before saying, "If you end up stuck here in our world, which I hope you don't, you can come by my house and I can give you a pet if you'd like. I understand that you can never replace Troxell or Little Dude, but having a pet never hurts." She gave him a tender smile.

"You're really kind, you know that?" Bass said.

"I'm aware of that," she said with a giggle, laughing at some joke that Bass was unaware of.

* * *

**Author's Note**

I did it again. TT_TT I forgot to upload on the day I said I would. How late am i this time, anyway? I honestly can't remember if I uploaded last week or not. I probably didn't. VG Cats, I tell you! They're awful schedule spreads to everyone eventually! Oh well, better make this quick. My laptop likes to overheat these days. Really looking forward to my new desktop.

Till next week (hopefully).


End file.
